By Abby Delapenha

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Swati Agrawal

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic apicomplexan parasite infecting humans and livestock. Infection in immunocompromised individuals can cause neurological damage and infection during pregnancy can lead to fetal death. These parasites engage in a complex life cycle, involving repeated invasion of host cell and egress from the host cell. Calcium signaling is an important regulatory mechanism for many essential processes in the parasite including gliding motility (actomyosin-dependent mode of motion), invasion, and egress. Our work focused on two previously uncharacterized calcium regulator proteins. The proteins of interest were modified using the CRISPR-Cas 9 system to express the Auxin Degron system downstream of each gene. Our work demonstrates the localization of these proteins and the role of these proteins on parasite growth and fitness.